Reliance, Ola, Rajesh Exports to make batteries under ₹18,100 cr PLI scheme

Reliance New Energy Ltd., Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd. and Rajesh Exports Ltd. – the three selected bidders – have signed agreements under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) battery storage.

These companies will receive incentives under India's ₹18,100 crore ACC battery PLI programme which aims to ensure that the cost of battery manufacturing in India is globally competitive.

A total of 10 bids were received from companies with manufacturing capacity of 128 gigawatt hours (GWh) under the battery PLI scheme.

In addition to the capacities allocated by the Ministry of Heavy Industries under the PLI programme, private players are expected to create battery manufacturing capacity to the tune of around 95 GWh.

Under the PLI scheme, the manufacturing facility would have to be set up within a period of two years. The incentive will be disbursed thereafter over a period of five years on sale of batteries manufactured in India.

The government had approved the PLI scheme for manufacturing of advanced chemistry cell in May 2021 in an effort to promote faster adoption of electric vehicles in the country. The move was aimed at bringing down battery prices, which will ultimately reduce costs of electric vehicles.

The beneficiary firm shall be free to choose suitable advanced technology and the corresponding plant and machinery, raw material, and other intermediate goods for setting up cell manufacturing facility to cater to any application, the Ministry of Heavy Industries says.

The PLI programme will boost domestic manufacturing and also facilitate battery storage demand creation for both electric vehicles and stationary storage along with the development of a complete domestic supply chain and foreign direct investment in the country, it adds.

ACC PLI scheme is expected to directly impact the saving to the nation on account of reduction in import of crude-oil to a significant extent and increase the share of renewable at the national grid level.

This, according to the government, will enable India to leapfrog from traditional fossil fuel-based automobile transportation system to environmentally cleaner, sustainable, advanced and more efficient electric vehicles based system.

Electric vehicles are also covered under PLI scheme for automobile and auto components, which was approved on September 15, 2021, with a budgetary outlay of ₹25,938 crore for a period of five years.

Earlier this month, electric vehicle maker Ola Electric announced an investment of $500 million for setting up its Battery Innovation Center (BIC) in Bengaluru. The EV maker also unveiled its first indigenously developed lithium-ion (Li-ion) cell, NMC 2170.

About 13.34 lakh electric vehicles are currently in use in India compared with 27.81 crore non-electric vehicles, according to the latest data released by the government.